Bhubaneswar: The week-long National Road Safety awareness campaign kickstarted from the city on Monday with chief minister Naveen Patnaik urging people to pledge zero compromise on road safety.

Naveen launched the awareness campaign from the secretariat. The campaign, with the theme "Stay Safe, Stay Happy", is being organised by the commerce and transport department. He tweeted: "Glad to launch awareness campaign by @CTOdisha on #RoadSafety Week. Let's all pledge for Zero Compromise on road safety #StatySafe #StayHappy".

Police also organised a road safety awareness programme at its traffic police station near AG Square that was attended by Odisha director-general of police R.P. Sharma.

"The police have made special arrangements to celebrate road safety week. We will arrange special exhibitions for citizens at the traffic police station. We will also organise rallies to spread awareness."

He said the week was dedicated to remind people about their responsibilities towards society, but it was an ongoing process throughout the year.

Transport minister Nrusingha Charan Sahu, who was present at the event, announced that awareness activities would be conducted across Odisha throughout the year. "This is an effort to educate people on being safe on roads. We will organise activities across the year and spread awareness on traffic norms," said Sahu.

Social worker Alok Kar said there should be efforts to conduct awareness activities. "People need to be aware of their responsibilities, but the administration is also required to make the roads safer and norms tighter for the people," said Kar.